This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Applications No. 2000-341189, filed Oct. 3, 2000; and No. 2001-137928, filed Mar. 30, 2001, the entire contents of both of which are incorporated herein by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a stippling instrument for stippling a drawing or making an accent in a character, in which ink is applied in dots successively on a stippled material.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in stippling, various sizes of stippling marks, that is, dots, must be formed, and therefore various writing instruments each capable of forming a certain size of stippling mark are prepared, and the pointillist has to switch from one instrument to another depending on the size of a stippling mark required for the desired situation.
Therefore, not only a large number of writing instruments are required, which results in a great expense, but also the instruments must be switched continually one from another while stippling, which requires a lot of time and work.
The object of the present invention is to provide a stippling instrument which can form various sizes of dots when stippling only by itself so that a lot of time and work is not necessary and the cost can be reduced.
According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a stippling tool comprising:
a cylindrical main body having an opening on a distal end side thereof, and defining an ink containing chamber therein;
a slender ink transfer member having a proximal end portion to which ink in the ink containing chamber is supplied, and a distal end portion extending to the opening of the main body, in which ink is transferred from the proximal end portion to the distal end portion; and
a porous elastic stippling member provided on the distal end portion of the ink transfer member, through which the ink permeates;
the stippling member having a stippling distal end surface projecting in a curved shape to a direction of the distal end, and located outside from the opening of the main body, the distal end surface being elastically deformed by a stroke pressure, thereby stippling a point mark of dimensions in accordance with the stroke pressure onto an object material.
With the stippling instrument having the above-described structure, when the user holds the main body and presses the distal end surface of the stippling member against an object material for stippling, ink which has been already supplied to the stippling member from the ink storage chamber stains the object material to make a point mark on the material. During this operation, as the user changes the stroke pressure, various sizes of point marks can be made on the material in accordance with the degree of the stroke pressure. Therefore, stippling can be performed while changing the size of point mark with only one instrument, and therefore the drawbacks of the conventional instrument can be solved in terms of cost, time and operation itself.
It should be noted that the distal end surface of the stippling member may be a continuous partial spherical surface or a non-continuous partial spherical surface having a cavity of such a shape of a cross of slits.
In the latter case, not only a round point mark but also a different shape of point mark can be formed by adjusting the stroke pressure and the angle of the stippling instrument, and therefore it is possible to stipple an image of a different touch from ordinary ones.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out hereinafter.